Why Basal Body Temperature (BBT) for Ovulation Prediction?

June 21, 2018

Why Basal Body Temperature (BBT) for Ovulation Prediction?

By Li

“Beep, Beep, Beep”, 6:30AM, Ashley was waked up by the alarm clock. Instead of getting up to start the day, she reached out to a new digital basal thermometer besides her pillow. After turning it on, she put the tip of basal thermometer under her tongue and continue rest in the bed. About a couple of minutes later, the gentle but clear beep indicates the measurement completion. She checked the reading and recorded it on a chart to show the trend of her temperature.

This is a typical morning for millions women who take the Basal Body Temperature (BBT) method for ovulation prediction purpose.What is basal body temperature (BBT) and why it can help to do ovulation prediction?

If you are one of many women who try to conceive (TTC) naturally, it is very important to know when you’ll ovulate every cycle so you can determine the best time to have sex.

There are several methods to determine the ovulate days based on body signs or hormones level. Among those methods, charting the BBT over the course of your menstrual cycle is an inexpensive, low-tech way and is recommended by many medical professionals.

Basal body temperature (BBT) is your morning body temperature before getting out of bed and doing any activities. The science behind determining the ovulation using BBT charting is that BBT will rise 0.5 to 1.0 degree Fahrenheit 12 to 24 hours after ovulation, which should last until your next period. So, for many women who have regular BBT chart, you should see biphasic BBT pattern, which shows two levels of temperatures: a pattern of relatively low temps in the preovulatory phase followed by higher temps in the postovulatory phase for about 12 to 16 days. If you can identity when the BBT spike (a.k.a. BBT “thermal” shift) happens, you can assume that the ovulation happened 12 - 24 hours ago with good confidence. Here is a typical BBT chart that shows the biphasic BBT pattern.

Is BBT method effective and useful?

While BBT is a reliable body sign to indicate the ovulation has happened, traditional BBT charting is not the most effective way to determine current fertility windows for conception. Your fertility is highest during the two days before ovulation and the day it occurs, but your BBT spike happens 12 to 24 hours after ovulation. So, by the time you observe the BBT spike, your best fertility time has passed. But, with that being said, BBT spike this cycle can be effective to predict the ovulation days in next cycle if your cycle is regular and you track multiple cycles.

In addition, BBT method requires a lot of effort and commitment to measure and chart BBT manually continuously every morning. Missing a reading or getting an invalid reading may mess up the monitoring for the whole cycle. Besides interpreting BBT chart is also a difficult task for most of TTC women.

Should you still take BBT?

BBT is still an important and reliable body sign to predict the ovulation days if use it properly and consistently. With the bluetooth enabled basal thermometer and smart APP like Premom Ovulation Predictor on your iOS or Android phone, you can take advantage of the benefit of BBT without worry about burden of manual charting and interpretation.

Premom APP can sync up the BBT reading fromEasy@Home EBT-300 Basal Thermometerto your APP seamlessly and automatically. No need to write down temperatures or even open your phone. The Premom APP will chart your BBT and generate the coverline to pinpoint the BBT spike with precision. Besides Premom will also predict the fertility window accurately based on the BBT reading and other fertility signs together.

In conclusion, you should still take advantage of BBT method to predict the ovulation powered by the latest technology in the market.

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